Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Journal 7: "Mining for Gold"

The article “Mining for Gold,” by Christ Bigenho, is a great source of information regarding Real Simple Syndication, or RSS. RSS allows internet users to control the information they receive by subscribing to different sources of information. The program that collects the new information posted on the internet is called an aggressor. RSS feeds come from many different sources, including journals, newspapers, blogs, and wikis. Bigenho describes how this program can be used utilized in the classroom. First, as a teacher you can bookmark articles for students to read and post it on the school’s learning management system or website. Another way RSS can be used in the classroom is with students blogs. If students create an educational blog, you the teacher can then subscribe to their blogs. This way, you don’t have to keep checking to see if it is updated. With a program like Bloglines, you will be notified when there is new information posted on that blog. Bigenho also suggests the use of social bookmarking. This allows you to keep your favorite webpages organized as well as allows students to access sites that are tagged for their particular course. Finally, Bigenho talks about the use of feeding content to an html page. Dynamic content for a course can be fed to a program such as JavaScript through a program called Feed2JS.
This articled is very practical source for the use of technology in the classroom. Bigenho explains how the use of RSS can be a great resource for students and teachers to find important information and keep informed about current events.
1. Is this useful for elementary age students?
I think it can be useful for elementary age students because they are growing up in a technological age. The sooner we expose them to the exciting, informative, and proper use of the internet the better.
2. Is there such thing as too much information through RSS?
I think one negative is that you may be focused on finding new information that you may become overwhelmed with so much information. The sources you use through RSS should be specific and educational.

Bigenho, Chris (2009, March/April). Mining For Gold. Learning and leading with Technology, Retrieved April/25/2009, from: http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/

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